


Margin of Error

by AshToSilver



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:57:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7215982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshToSilver/pseuds/AshToSilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Batsy, darling, at this height, you gotta watch where you’re going. You - heh - could fall or something.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Margin of Error

**Author's Note:**

> **Anonymous requested:** _Could you write a story where joker safes batman? Later the joker wants to have a reward ;-)_
> 
> Still a part of my [June Prompt Challenge](http://alexfics.tumblr.com/post/145111053242/accepting-batjokes-prompts). Let me know if you have a request!

There is a margin of error in this and he knows it. 

He has trained and fought and lived this life for a long time. He knows its insides and outsides, mistakes and successes but still, there is always the chance. Checked equipment can still break, stone can crumble, prey can go left when it should have gone right. He can still _fall_. He can still _break_.

And he watches for it, ever vigilant. But he cannot watch everything.

So sometimes, he makes mistakes.

Bruce registers the looseness of the wire before he fully realizes what’s going on. He knows he’s in trouble, eight stories up with nothing but pavement if he falls. He’s halfway into the swing, though his feet are still on the roof.

His mind knows - he’s got too much forward momentum, his footing too soft, there’s no fire escape to catch him even if he can manage to twist. His cape is shredded, a lone knife with a toothy edge earlier that night that means he won’t be able to glide even if he can manage to get his wings open before he’s too long to catch the air.

He thinks _this’ll hurt_ and then hears a sound he has never been happy to hear before - the double-click of the Joker’s harpoon gun. His feet slip, but the rest of them doesn’t - his cape is pinned, he realises, at about the same time he goes over the edge and immediately slams into the wall just below where he was perched.

He manages to get the hooks of his gauntlets into the brick before his suit registers the choking sensation around his neck and auto-unclips the cape to release him. It’s not perfect, but he manages to swing a hand up and feels the Joker grab his wrist, pulling him up and back over the edge.

“How much you _weigh_ ,” the Joker wheezes, dropping Bruce once he’s on solid ground. “I think I’ve tried to lift lighter _cars_. Hon-Honey, have you considered a diet?”

Bruce didn’t bother to answer, instead rolling over and gasping a few times. His wrists hurt, and so did his neck, but there was no damage, overall. A fairly harmless mistake, all things considering.

The Joker dropped down beside him, breathing a little heavily as well. “Batsy, darling, at this height, you gotta watch where you’re going. You - heh - could fall or something.”

Bruce fiddling with the cowl’s latches before he pulled it off, massaging his throat a bit. “You know, I was just thinking the same thing.”

The clown laughed at that, rolling over and climbing onto Bruce’s lap, taking his face in gloved hands. “Darling, I have little doubt of that.” He lowered his head, noses almost touching. “But, ah- I did just save your life, little batsy. Coulda ended badly, for you, you know.” He smiled, all teeth and sugar-sweet breath. “Do you vigilante types give out rewards for that sort of thing?” He rolled his hips in suggestion.

“We’re on a roof,” Bruce said, though he could feel a small grin tugging at his mouth. “There could be helicopters.”

“Er- I might have heard somethin’ about a drug bust up in Midtown,” the clown wiggled himself into a sitting position, beginning to unbutton his waistcoat. “Think a little bird’s handling it, but you know - explosions, and all that.”

“Well in that case,” Bruce replied, “I can probably think of something.”


End file.
